


In the Hall of the Mountain King

by sparklight



Category: Transformers - All Media Types
Genre: Adventure & Romance, Dub-con elements, Fairy Tale Elements, Gen, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-05-04
Updated: 2015-06-23
Packaged: 2018-03-29 01:33:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 15,114
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3877324
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sparklight/pseuds/sparklight
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>There's beings in the forests that like to lead unwary wanderers astray. Sometimes they trap these unwary wanderers in marriage, too.</p><p>Mirage has, apparently, impossibly, run afoul of such a situation... but that's not all what's going on. Perhaps the damsel in distress will have to do some rescuing of his own as well.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Ill-fated Turbofox Hunt

**Author's Note:**

> This AU has the minibots borrowing traits from the trolls of Scandinavian folklore, particularly a type of story where someone (usually a woman/princess) is kidnapped and forced to marry a troll. Since the minibots are still *cybertronian* here, some other elements will be missing (as trolls are usually portrayed to eat things like maggots and insects which they make look like proper human food), but this is what they are, in general, supposed to be!

Don't go too deep into the mountains, the elders clucked. Don't wander away from the paths through the cable-vine or crystal reed forests, they admonished. Don't get lost in the Sonic Canyons, they warned.

Did Mirage, scion of the Eleventh Tower of Iacon's Sacred Spires, listen?

No. No, he did not, because he was hot on the trail of the _fastest_ turbofox he'd ever chased for a hunt, and since he had been invited on this outing by a dear family friend, he would do his House _and_ said friend proud.

Tails winking in the sunlight, the turbofox ran before him, mocking him by being _just_ far enough out of reach that even if he leapt and transformed, he wouldn't be able to catch the blasted little thing. So he put on more speed and followed the turbofox as it left the thicker forest around the base of mount Darkmount behind and went higher. It burst through bushes of loopbrush, darted over deposits, veered around bared, unbroken geodes poking out of the rough ground, and bounded over layered metal outcroppings.

The ground grew steeper, but Mirage wouldn't let himself be dissuaded; he _knew_ he could catch the annoying little thing. The noise of its paws bounced back to him, the little thrusters hidden among its tails giving it annoying extra bursts of speed, _almost_ letting it slip out of view---

"No!" cry ringing between sheer metal cliffs and delicately pointed crystal clusters, Mirage slid to a stop and transformed, staring around the shallow clearing. He had _lost it_. Impossibly, _annoyingly_ , he had _lost_ the turbofox! 

He couldn't _believe this_! He also couldn't _quite_ keep back the urge to crack his foot down on the ground, scraping off the gold-bronze tinted patina to reveal the pure silvered metal underneath. No one could _see_ him, so what did a bit of an unseemly temper tantrum matter?

Straightening up with a huff that was as much _collecting himself_ as it was an expression of his frustration, Mirage looked around the clearing. Spiral-stairsteps of iridescent bismuth dotted the flat space, short, thin energon deposit reeds surrounded it, and there was a pool of mercury a short distance away.

All in all, very _picturesque_.

Now, if it wasn't what had caused him to lose his turbofox and wasn't at least an hour of a high-speed travel away from where he last left the others, he would be far more pleased.

"There a _reason_ you're out here yellin' like somebod---"

Mirage startled and _quite embarrassingly_ yelled again even as he whirled around, wielding nothing more than his turbofox whip in the air and... had to look down.

Narrow blue optics stared fiercely up at him, optics that belonged to a little mech with his chin thrust out and his hands fisted at his sides, by all accounts ready to fight.

Which was sort of ridiculous, since while he wasn't as tiny as the rare minicons carrier mechs gathered around them, he still only reached up to Mirage's waist. Mirage, _somehow_ , managed not to stare and drew himself up to his full height.

"And might I inquire where _you_ came from?" _Somehow_ he managed to sound polite, but it seemed the little mech was picking up on the edge he hadn't been able to smooth away, and he huffed and quite rudely too!

"I was here before you, not that it should fragging matter! You're the one who burst up here like some blasted _combiner_ while I was trying to to get the lilleths, and guess where they are now?" the red mech waved his arms around the decidedly _empty_ clearing, _nearly_ yelling by the end. Any sympathy Mirage might have felt for their similar situations nearly dried up in the face of being so rudely accused and yelled at right after he'd had such a scare.

"I was hunting a turbofox. You didn't happen to see where it went, if you would?"

He got a look trapped between incredulous and confused for that - was the mech just not used to being addressed with a bare amount of _politeness_?

"... no," the mech said with a slow shake of his helm, and then as Mirage kept his sigh of disappointment locked in his vocaliser, looked sideways away into the elevation-shortened reeds, paused and then looked back to him, optics now narrowed slightly, "but... it probably won't be hard to find some trace of it."

Straightening up, Mirage grinned.

"Really? I'd be most _grateful_. I haven't lost a hunt since I first was allowed to participate, and it'd be _inconceivable_ I'd lose now..."

He caught the little mech rolling his optics at the ground just as he turned around, pointing towards where he'd been looking earlier, and Mirage gave him the favour of not calling him out on that reaction.

"Yeah, _whatever_. Let's check over there, turbofoxes like thick reeds, don't they?"

Mirage was, frankly, _surprised_ this random mech out in the wilderness would know anything about turbofoxes, enough to know some of their habits... Though, if he lived out here, there was enough wilderness he'd ought to have seen a turbofox or two, wouldn't he? But then, he probably came from one of the smaller settlements at the edges of the forest surrounding Darkmount, or maybe even Polyhex Minor; even that city, as far away as it was, was a more logical possibility than someone living out here in the _nothingness_.

Nobody but techanimals and the beings from protoform tales did that, after all.

So Mirage followed the little red mech, watching the rounded bulk of some sort of kibble, wheels attached to it, bounce slightly with each step. Thick, rounded armour and some sharp lines along with small horns on top of the helm; if Mirage wasn't annoyed, he'd have found the little mech quite charming, despite his crudeness.

The reeds at the edge of the clearing were pale violet, ice-pink and twilight blue, hardly taller than Mirage was. They were still something of a bother as they passed the first sparsely spaced ones at the edge of the clearing and then went deeper into the thicket. The play of sunlight as it fell through the reeds was somewhat disorienting, especially as the reeds seemed to make up for their relative lack of height by trying to crowd each other out, sending ripples of coloured light away from the two mechs with every twitch of the nearest reed they passed.

Wind whispered through the reeds and brushed over their plating, filling the air with a tinkling noise that, if he were sitting in a clearing with a few friends on a sunny day and enjoying some good energon, would be _quite_ enchanting.

At the moment, Mirage felt somewhat more ill at ease as well as annoyed.

"Are you _sure_ it'd have gone this way?" Mirage finally asked, a static sigh colouring his voice. It was getting later in the afternoon, and really, he should just give up, get back down to the foothills and back to camp. Trying to alleviate his foolish pride would only make him look even _more_ of a fool at this point.

The little mech grunted, paused, and looked around before he shook his helm and turned around, looking up at Mirage with a frown.

"No, sorry. Probably ain't helping, huh?" the grin seemed somewhat strained, and Mirage's own in response was as well. No matter if the little mech was trying to _help_ , he'd now just wasted _Mirage's_ time!

"Let's just go back to the clearing and I can leave. I should at least congratulate the winner before the day is over," Mirage said with a shake of his helm, and looked around.

The reeds danced with movement, scattering fractals of light and Mirage had no idea how far away or in which direction the clearing was. Getting up on the tips of his feet allowed him to _barely_ clear the reeds, but all he saw was the tips of those reeds, outcroppings of metals, the rising side of mountain to the right a short distance away... the clearing was utterly _impossible_ to find from here, hidden well as it was.

"Hey, don't worry," the mech said and Mirage looked down into a smile that was much less strained than earlier, "I can find the way back." Waving him on, the mech led the way again, walking with a confidence that was reassuring. He lived here, or more probable was familiar with the area, so of course he'd know the way, right? 

After a few kliks of walking, the reeds cleared to... a cliff side.

"I... ah, would hate to point it out, but this is decidedly _not_ the clearing," Mirage said and frowned down at the little mech, who just shook his helm and waved a hand, not bothered at all.

"Look, it's easier if you're up by the rocks. You can end up walking _for-fragging-ever_ in the reeds, but if ya get yourself against the mountainside, you can follow it to work yourself up or down, wherever you want to go."

That... made sense.

So he followed the mech again, casting looks up at the shards of darkening sky seen between bluish rise of Darkmount to the right, and over the reeds to the left. It'd be _forever_ before he got even just to the _foothills_ at this rate!

"Look, thank you for your help, but---"

The little mech suddenly pitched over with a cry that was half choked, and the noise of protesting metal followed shortly as he tried to remain upright, twisted _around_ , and then still fell. The clang of metal against metal was loud, and Mirage winced just slightly; the little mech's hipjoints were bare, unprotected by any faulds at all. Couldn't be pleasant to fall on.

"Fragging _slag_ , can't rusting _believe_ \---"

Mirage waited patiently while the little mech cursed, spat and swore as he stood up... or tried to, anyway, barely putting weight on the foot he'd twisted before the dented part was unable to hold up under his weight, and his foot unable to distribute said weight properly when lacking a part of the foot. Mirage couldn't _quite_ keep his sigh to himself, and earned a dirty glare.

"Well, _excuse me_ for fragging _tripping_!"

Mirage sighed and while he was still peeved, it _was_ , indeed, hard to blame the poor mech for tripping and getting his foot twisted... and he looked so pathetic, standing there leaning against the mountainside with his arms crossed, cheeks almost puffed out like a protoform and staring out at the reeds.

"So where do you live?" Mirage asked with a sigh, holding a hand out, "since we must both be going down to the bottom of the mountain, I could help you there."

"Uh..." the little mech looked quite surprised, and paused for a moment, glancing back out at the reeds before he took the offered hand with a nod, "yeah it... ain't that far. Was gonna get ya outta the reeds first, but that's kinda hard now."

Waving his free hand dismissively, Mirage positioned himself so he could support the little mech - a thing which at least was easy considering the size difference - and then they started moving again, if slower than before.

"I'm Mirage, of the Eleventh Tower. Pleased to make your acquaintance," Mirage finally said after they'd walked in silence for nearly a full breem, admitting that it might be time to alleviate the lack of introduction. Not that that didn't get him a sideways look and another roll of bright blue optics, but then the red little mech spoke up as well.

"Cliffjumper. And we're here."

Mirage would have said something about that _rudely lacking_ introduction, but he was far more distracted by the _sheer metal wall_ they were standing by.

"Here? There's _nothing_ here." It was hard not to point _that_ out, after all.

Cliffjumper just snorted and shook his helm, reaching out to brush his fingers against the layered metal, and... it moved. Mirage wasn't sure what sort of opening mechanism Cliffjumper had tripped, but the metal slid aside in alternating layers, like interlocking puzzle pieces, to reveal a tunnel.

" _Of course_ there's something here. It just won't open for every random mech that comes by," Cliffjumper said with another snort, and patiently waited until Mirage shook his helm and started to move forward on his own.

The first step past past the door caused swirls of crystals set into the walls to light up, bathing the corridor in shimmering pinkish iridescence when the door had closed behind them and Mirage was quite enchanted. He'd never quite seen something like this, no matter all the lavish emirate halls, Towers residences and magnate houses he'd been to in his life.

"Where did those _come from_?" Mirage finally couldn't resist asking, and Cliffjumper looked up with a confused look that settled into... less confusion but still not quite gone as he saw what Mirage was looking at, and shrugged.

"The mountain? Just gotta know where to look."

Mirage shook his helm but said nothing. He was _pretty_ sure if that was all there was to it, miners would have found this sort of crystal at _some_ point. But he could hardly (just yet) pump someone he'd just met for such information...

The corridor went straight for a bit and then started to curve downwards, the walls decorated with swirling bas relief around the crystal "lamps" and the floor made of some sort of mosaic... Mirage wasn't quite sure what it portrayed. The door they came to after several kliks of walking swooped up high above them, far taller than Mirage and thus needlessly tall if they were meant for _Cliffjumper_ \- an assumption Mirage didn't think was too daring to make, as he'd so far seen no one else.

Cliffjumper reached out and didn't even touch the interlocking pieces of some sort of clear gem set at the center before they opened up like the other door had. The two halves of the door slid noiselessly into the rock and they hobbled onward into the hall beyond.

A hall that rose in sweeping arches with domed roofs above them, energon falling slowly from the glittering domes down along the pillars that supported the arches and into little pools around the pillars, then through channels under the clear floor. The hall's chattering crowds - all _short_ like Cliffjumper were, and wasn't that quite a _sight_ to Mirage, slowly quieted and turned to look at them. At the head of the hall sat a white mech with jagged details that reminded of purple flames and small, pointed horns (compared to Cliffjumper's flatly angled ones) on what could only be described as a throne.

"Sorry for... er, being late," Cliffjumper muttered, voice still carrying despite his low tone, and Mirage looked down to catch a quite... pinched expression on Cliffjumper's faceplate, "this is Mirage of... er, the Eleventh Tower?"

Ignoring the question Cliffjumper had ended that on, Mirage stepped aside to let the two mechs that came up to help Cliffjumper take him as he stepped forward and bowed with all the ease of having learned it a lifetime ago.

"Mirage, Scion of the Eleventh Tower of Iacon's Golden Spires. My field is open to yours. I apologise for the sudden appearance. Cliffjumper was showing me back to the edge of the forest so I could get back down to the foothills, but then there was a bit of a... mishap. An escort would be greatly appreciated." Straightening back up again, Mirage met the red optics on him unflinchingly, but was uncertain what the stare - or the smile that seemed to lurk around the edges of the little white mech's mouth - might mean.

"We are Bug Bite, lord of this Hall," he paused, red glow briefly intensifying as he narrowed his optics, "and you'll have an escort... to a room. A room fit for the future consort of this Hall."

Mirage stared, optics flickering, and barely held back a snort. But he did know how to deal with a situation like this. So he bowed again, and didn't step away from the two mechs who stepped up beside him - no matter how hilariously short compared to him, they were still armed.

"I will consider the offer with all due attention."

Cliffjumper, Mirage found as he left the hall with his... escorts... was nowhere to be found. And the door he'd went into led out into a circular hall with several corridors running off from it and a wide set of stairs opposite to the door, not out into the corridor he and Cliffjumper had taken into the throne room.

... Strange.

The room, though, _was_ indeed fit for someone of Mirage's status.

There might not have been _windows_ , but there was a delicate lattice carving on one wall that revealed a network of glittering purple and blue gems underneath, there was a fountain in the center of the room that housed delicate little gear minnows, the berth was raised up, inlaid with electrum and the charge conductive mesh was as plush as few other berths Mirage had had the privilege to rest in.

There was more, of course, but he'd had _quite_ a day---

The door opened, and Mirage whirled around to stare down at Cliffjumper. He could just spot the shadow of someone else by the door, but _they_ didn't come in.

"You should leave," Cliffjumper snapped, arms crossed over his chestplates, and Mirage _almost_ gaped.

"Says the mech who practically kidnapped me and introduced me to the lord of this _secret mountain hall_!" Mirage said, optics narrowed. Ignoring for the moment the sudden bell of faint recognition at his own turn of word, there; he could think on that later.

"Don't you slagging _know better_ than to follow strange people into the forest?" Cliffjumper said, growling, and Mirage couldn't _quite_ believe what he was hearing.

" _That_ 's your defense? I'm _quite amazed_! Besides, trying to leave now would be ill advised, I think. Your lord would probably be looking for such behaviour," Mirage said with a shake of his helm, _nearly_ snorting at the way Cliffjumper tensed.

"You _need to fragging leave_!"

"Don't _worry_ , Cliffjumper. I'll be able to leave when I need to. Now, if that was all..." trailing off and eyeing the door and then looking down at Cliffjumper, Mirage arched an upper optic ridge. Cliffjumper let out a rude noise that echoed with the jerky rev of his engine before he turned on his now clearly repaired foot and stomped out.

The door slid closed with barely a sound of sliding metal.

With a sigh, Mirage picked up the tall glass of energon he'd been given and sank down on the berth. Eyeing the glass, he had to suppress another sigh. A glass. No bowl or spoon as proper. Not even a spoon for the glass, which he could have accepted too. Well, beggars couldn't be choosers, and he did need to refuel.

***

"You feel guilty," Bumblebee said quietly as they walked away from the door after standing by it for more than a breem in the vague hope Mirage would have knocked to be let out. They'd have let the door stay open if they _could have_ , but the doors didn't work that way.

"He's dumb and stuck up and talks stupid, but wouldn't _you too_?" Cliffjumper scrubbed harshly at his faceplates, optics dimmed. He also had to reset his vocaliser to make sure he didn't start _yelling_ , because what would that help? Besides that, someone would notice if he did.

"I didn't think you'd do it," Bumblebee sharply lowered his voice as they passed a few guards, and Cliffjumper didn't respond until they'd rounded a corner and walked for another few seconds.

"I wasn't _gonna_ , but he annoyed the frag outta me and---" he threw his arms up, growled and rubbed his faceplate again, "and then I changed my mind and then I fragging _tripped and broke the joint_ without even _meaning to_ and yeah, I could've just commed you guys to come get me but it was just so _easy_ to let him help and then he was _here_ and..."

He felt ill. 

The remains of the energon he'd had that morning churned uneasily in his tank, fuel pump working jerkily and not doing anything for the unease coating his insides. He hadn't actually thought he _would_ go through with it, or, failing that, he'd actually manage to actually kidnap someone.

But the whole thing had worked weirdly smoothly - though, thinking about it, that just sounded exactly like all the tales he'd heard of others telling of similar instances. It just worked out, better than it should have. Even if you were clumsy or hesitated or not very _persuasive_ or what the slag ever.

"Hey."

Looking up, Cliffjumper couldn't meet Bee's azure, if still concerned, gaze, and looked away, but didn't shake off the hand on his shoulder.

"There's time still to convince him and to work something out if we _can't_ convince him."

"Yeah, like _what_? Ain't like we haven't been thinking 'bout it for a good while, and ain't like _others_ haven't tried, too," Cliffjumper hissed and stopped as Bee pulled him short before he continued on to where he had to go and let Bee go to his own room.

"Maybe _this time_ we'll come up with something, all right? Don't get defeated before we're even done!" Bumblebee smiled, squeezed his shoulder and then patted it before he let go and walked a bit further down the corridor, giving Cliffjumper a wave before he opened his door and disappeared inside. Cliffjumper stared down the empty corridor, at Bee's closed door, then glanced the other way, the way they'd come.

Down to where the guest rooms to the lord of the hall were, and he _almost_ took a step back in that direction, because _maybe_ he could... what, yell at the mech until he got so exasperated he left? but then gritted his teeth and stomped down the corridor towards his own room.

Cliffjumper didn't really think they had any time to convince Mirage - when had it _ever_ worked? But he wouldn't _not_ try... especially as _he'd_ been the one to bring Mirage in.

His tank churned again, and a flicker of pain ran along the sensors in his horns and out across his helm, heralding a possible processor ache. _Maybe_ this time it'd be different...

But why would it be?


	2. The Unpleasant Situation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mirage wonders why he didn't listen to Cliffjumper's demand that he leave, takes a short tour of the Hall and has a little longer meeting with Bug Bite. He'll probably be stuck for a while.

**First day**

Mirage came out of recharge with the distinct feeling that something was _wrong_ with his _berth_. Optics flickering online, Mirage stared up at a ceiling decorated with lilleths in flight across a night sky sparkling with stars. The central light fixture was Cybertron and its two moons.

... Oh, that might be why there was something 'wrong' with his berth; it wasn't _his_ berth. By all other accounts, it was a _remarkably comfortable_ berth, with the perfect amount of give to the charge conductive padding and just the right amount of resistance to the mesh covering it...

With a shake of his helm, Mirage sat up. He needed to plan a proper decline of the intended suit. He did not intend to get bonded with a... standing up with a frown, Mirage realised he didn't know what, beyond what Bug Bite had _introduced himself as_ Bug Bite and the rest of these short mechs out in the middle of nowhere... were...

Optics flickering, Mirage remembered what he'd said the evening before; secret mountain hall. Tiny mechs apparently living out in the middle of nowhere...

Incredulity welled up, warring with a protoform's stunned delight; _minibots_! 

But that couldn't be _right_. Those were just _tales_ , no matter what the elders would warn of. Anyone would warn about getting lost in the wilderness, after all. You didn't _actually_ need some supposedly small, magical people living in the forests and mountains who kidnapped unwary wanderers...

Except that was what had literally happened, wasn't it?

And the way Cliffjumper had opened the doors... and the way the corridor had just _changed_... With a frown, Mirage crossed the room and put his hand to the crystal in the center of it, somewhat lower to Mirage than what was completely comfortable. It didn't move. There wasn't so much as a _twitch_ , no matter how he pushed or tapped or tried to twist the polished, round stone.

Of course, that might just mean the actual opening mechanism was further concealed in some way, not that there was some sort of _magic_ to it. The only 'magic' in the world was those of the spark abilities a few sported, and those came as emanations from the spark and the interaction of the spark energy with the frame.

It was that simple.

Something like these locks and doors and _moving corridors and rooms_ would need something far more involved.

Either way, even if these _were_ minibots, he still had no intention of bonding any of them. Not even the lord of the hall, regardless of the _privileges_ that undoubtedly would come with that. 

With a roll of his optics, Mirage snorted. 

As if _privileges_ and riches had any bearing on him, beyond the appreciation of finely crafted items or well-distilled energon... If Bug Bite thought a few rich _gifts_ would impress him, then he would be _sorely_ mistaken.

He wasn't some random mech off the street, after all.

All he needed now was a way to _decline_... Which, admittedly, might be more difficult than anticipated if they _were_ minibots. Standing there thinking about it, a thrill of unease flickered through Mirage. It had seemed... ridiculous, yesterday, even if he _had_ basically been kidnapped and even if there _had_ been weapons carried by his escort.

It had still seemed unreal enough Mirage had gone along with it without feeling particularly _threatened_. Now, though...

The tales always emphasised that once in a hall, it could be very, very difficult to get out of a bonding arrangement, if that was what the minibot luring the victim away had been after. Not because they were necessarily easily and violently offended. No, it was all about finding the right trick to get them to give up and let you go...

The slight noise was enough to give Mirage a warning that the door was opening so he could turn around on the ledge of the fountain he sat at, facing the door instead of staring at the lattice work with the gems underneath. He was only _half_ surprised that it was Cliffjumper and a yellow minibot that came in, instead of, say, Bug Bite.

Only half surprised, but almost embarrassingly relieved. These two seemed to at least want to _help him_.

"Here to convince me to leave again?" Mirage couldn't resist the slight bite to his words or the arch he added to one upper optic ridge despite his previous thought. But at the same time, if these two could point him in the right direction, he wouldn't really _mind_. Would, obviously, be very thankful. 

Why _had_ he been so insistent last night, anyway? Besides that it had all seemed silly and unreal and that it _was_ perfectly reasonable to assume Bug Bite would be looking out for escape attempts.

"What, you _want_ to stay cooped up in here or something?" Cliffjumper snapped, his expression sharpening from the soft frown he'd been wearing. His companion sighed, a quiet little burst of static that wasn't disruptive enough to make Mirage acknowledge him for the moment, and the arch to his optic ridge remained.

"It _is_ a very nice room, but I wouldn't mind seeing more of the hall," Mirage said with a smile, mostly because Cliffjumper looked surprised at his admission to leave, "who's your friend?" Standing up, Mirage looked from Cliffjumper to his yellow companion; they shared some vague similarities in kibble and the horns added additional superficial similarity.

To be honest, despite the kibble connection, this mech looked more like Bug Bite than he looked like Cliffjumper. It made him wonder...

"Oh, uh... This is Bumblebee," Cliffjumper said with a shrug and a wave at his friend, who rolled his optics and grinned up at Mirage.

"My spark and field are open, my lord," Bumblebee said with a smile and a dip of his helm, not _quite_ a bow, while Cliffjumper rolled his optics, "Bug Bite is my older brother."

A connection not unexpected, but Mirage didn't manage more than a bow before Cliffjumper broke in, looking quite annoyed, too.

"Do ya _have_ to do that slag, Bee? And _he_ don't deserve---"

"Given the way Mirage introduced himself, the title seems _apt_ , and since he's supposed to be my brother's... intended, I _do_ ," Bumblebee said with a gentle roll of his optics and a slap to Cliffjumper's shoulder, though he'd briefly looked curiously... drawn, when he'd referred to Mirage's possible - or _intended_ , anyway - status with his brother.

Though it was of course nice to see he wasn't the only one apparently unsettled by this whole thing.

"It's a pleasant surprise to see that _some_ are aware of _basic manners_ ," Mirage said, not voicing his thoughts, and aiming a smile at Bumblebee and very studiously _not_ looking at Cliffjumper as he spoke. The minibot in question huffed very loudly and scowled.

" _Manners_ fragging _nothing_ , that's just an oversmelted bunch of---" 

Both Bumblebee and Cliffjumper looked to the door, which had closed behind them, and while Mirage hadn't heard anything and he couldn't see anything being different, the minibots exchanged quite curious glances.

"We oughta leave."

"Let's show you around, huh?"

Mirage nodded, quite eager to be out by now. He still didn't miss how Bumblebee's smile and cheery tone faintly missed his optics - which, if he had picked up the indications right, wasn't a usual situation for the little mech. Bumblebee seemed like he was usually happy and _meant it_.

Cliffjumper's dark glare first at the door and then down each end of the corridor (which, this time, looked the same as he'd walked to this room through) was noted but ignored... Cliffjumper was clearly not just a pretty confrontational and rude little mech, he also seemed... distrustful of pretty much anything. Hopefully Cliffjumpers desire to get him out (despite having gotten him into this) would hold regardless of his _opinion_ of Mirage.

***  
Cliffjumper was surprised they got out of the royal wing without Bug Bite intercepting them; apparently the warning bell he and Bee had put up last time _was_ working. They'd almost thought it _wasn't_ , given a few previous incidents...

Not even the guards at the entrance of the wing stopped them, but it wasn't as if _that_ hadn't happened before. It wasn't as if they were _actually_ against them. It was just, well... With how things were, any time they chose to stop him and Bee were perfectly understandable. Not that that still didn't leave Cliffjumper glowering at every guard and feeling like they were all just _waiting_ to betray them.

Shaking his helm as he walked beside Bee and only half listened to his friend point things out as they wandered down the corridor, he pushed those thoughts away and simply tried to keep an optic out. He wasn't sure what was so very _amazing_ about the light fixtures, which Mirage pointed out _again_ , but at least _he_ didn't have to answer that _again_.

He made them veer off into a gallery at the next intersection though, reaching out at the nearest key point to make the doorway switch. Not because he _saw_ anything, but rather because... it felt right. Bee glanced at him but only led Mirage along, and the mech seemed not to mind the detour either, if the quiet exclamation over the transparent left wall and its gear minnows in the liquid behind that wall was anything to go by.

At least this route would still take them to the main hall without having to go through several other corridors or whatnot... Given how _easy_ it had been to get Mirage out of the room, Cliffjumper felt like they had less time than it seemed like. As if this was a _trap_ , and Bumblebee's glance back at him right before they stepped out into the main hall made it clear he shared those worries.

What they wanted was the corridor on the other end of the hall, which meant circling around the cavernous room and the multi-tiered energon fountain in the middle of it. If they could just get Mirage away before Bug Bite made his first move, then _maybe_ this time... Biting his lower lip, Cliffjumper knew getting Mirage away would only be the first half though. Because Bug Bite would still demand _someone_ \---

"Bee, I guess you're too busy to help with this mess, not that I think anyone _could_ help this time, because it just got _worse_ \---"

Cliffjumper rolled his optics at the familiar grumble from Huffer. There was a pretty beseeching tone underneath the usual complaining, though, and Bumblebee cut Huffer off before he got _too deep_ into his rant.

"Sure, we should be able to take a moment, what is it?"

Reflexively looking around the large hall, Cliffjumper couldn't spot any guards. Yet. Hopefully whatever issue Huffer had wouldn't take too long.

"The utterly useless _frustration_ that's my bonded, that's what," Huffer sighed, optics darkening with every word, and Cliffjumper twitched, ignored Mirage glancing down at him with a clear question in his optics. 

Not _that_ again.

"He's not listening, not that he _ever_ listens! Do you think we could just close the doors? Lock him out? But he's strong enough they wouldn't hold..." Huffer slumped and Bee shook his helm, a hand on Huffer's shoulder.

"I'm pretty sure they _would_ , but let's go over what we could use---"

"Hey, let's move a bit," Cliffjumper said and grabbed Mirage's wrist, pulling him away from the conversation. Mirage, to his credit, didn't protest. Even if he _did_ sigh and pulled his hand out of Cliffjumper's grip as soon as he could. At least he followed along to the corridor he and Bee had been aiming for while leading Mirage around the hall.

"Trouble?" Mirage asked after a moment of them standing by the opening and watching Bee and Huffer bent over a datapad, and Cliffjumper shrugged.

"Estranged bonded. They're trying to make sure Huffer don't have to meet him... Safer if Brawn stays away anyway---" cutting himself off, Cliffjumper _almost_ swore. Why had he said _that_? Wasn't like he'd be able to _explain_ if Mirage asked... But the tall mech only hummed quietly and then looked around the hall again, the glow from his optics bright.

"So what do you do?"

"Wh--- _me_?" Shaking his helm, Cliffjumper stared up at Mirage with a narrow glare, not sure what to make of the question. Why was he even _asking_?

"Of course. I understand Bumblebee is set to step up should anything happen to his brother, and in the meantime he's the Hall's Steward... so what do _you_ do, Cliffjumper?"

And by all accounts it looked like Mirage _meant_ the honest curiosity, despite all his stupid affected _manners_ that made it hard to tell if the mech ever meant what he said (unless he was yelling) or if it was just... shallow politeness. But no, Cliffjumper had to look away from Mirage's faceplate and the earnestness he was faced with.

For some reason it made his circuits warm up, spilling out through his field and optics in a _thoroughly embarrassing_ blush.

"Just... uh. Used to run things between Halls that couldn't be sent over the Grid and stuff..." shifting on his feet, Cliffjumper shrugged, "now I mostly help Bee."

Suddenly, he wished he hadn't been able to tell Mirage _meant_ his question and could just have snapped at him and ignored the question. Because this was nearly _worse_ , in some confusing, awkward way, than simply being annoyed at the stuck-up glitch. He really didn't need for Mirage to _actually_ be likeable!

***  
Cliffjumper, for whatever reason, was blushing.

He hadn't been sure at first, but while the squirm flickering out through Cliffjumper's field was harder to read, that brightening of his optics certainly _wasn't_. It was, Mirage had to admit, cute. How someone that so far had seemed mostly like a ball of confrontational rudeness could be that _cute_ , he wasn't sure.

The smile slipped out before he could stop it, and maybe he didn't want to.

"Like a courier, then?" then Mirage paused, but not long enough for more than a confused tilt of Cliffjumper's helm to displace the blush before the other part the minibot had said registered, "you mean there's _more_ of you?" For some reason, the thought that there'd be more secret Halls like this, tucked away in the wilderness and all of them inhabited by tiny little bots was just... baffling.

Despite the protoform tales he'd heard growing up, he'd still imagined this would have been... what, like a singular remainder from a strange past, or something?

"Yeah?" Cliffjumper looked up with a roll of his optics, voice stuffed to the brim with ' _duh_ ', and Mirage wasn't sure why or how he'd thought the annoying little thing was _cute_ , "of course there is! Why would there just be _one_ Hall around?"

"If there's more than one it'd be harder to hide, and you can't stay inside all the time, can you?" Mirage said with a huff, annoyed more at himself and that he was letting Cliffjumper's aggravating behaviour get to him than anything else, " _someone_ would have noticed all you tiny mechs!"

And then Cliffjumper smirked up at him, the bright but more somber glow of his optics brightening to nearly electric blue as he shook his helm, hands planted on his hips.

"And who says anyone'd _notice us_? We've got ways of going about unseen, ya know!" Cliffjumper said, smirk deepening into the sort of smugness that _almost_ was amusing, and Mirage had to roll his optics. Really, what could they _do_? Stand on each others shoulders, two of them combining together or something?

"I don't quite see _how_ , Cliffjumper. You're _rather_ noticeable."

"You think you know _everything_ , huh," Cliffjumper snorted and seemed set to continue, but Bumblebee calling his designation made the little mech jerk and look around Mirage and then his optics widened.

"Come on." 

Then there was a hand at his wrist and pulling, and Mirage looked over his shoulder, spotting Bug Bite with Bumblebee and Huffer nowhere to be seen, and suddenly that unease (he wouldn't call it fear) flared up again. Getting away was definitely a good idea, and staying any longer to try to let the lord of the Hall down _properly_ wasn't a good idea.

Turning back around just in time to stop and avoid bowling Cliffjumper over as the minibot suddenly stopped, he looked in front of them. 

Ah.

Guards.

Resetting his vocaliser and feeling a sudden flush of charge through his systems, Mirage, despite wanting to take a step back, hide or wishing for the ability to just _dismiss them_ like he'd be able to do at home, managed to stand still. 

Casting a look around, Mirage supposed he _could_ get away... but he didn't know the way out, and if any door out was locked like the ones in here was, then he wouldn't be able to _get_ anywhere. Not that that made it any _easier_ to just stand there, because with the reappearance of Bug Bite, the brief amusement he'd had through talking with Cliffjumper was gone and the situation was thrown in sharp relief again.

"Ah, Cliffjumper. Assisting my brother in showing my intended around?" Bug Bite didn't sound as if he'd noticed the aborted attempt at fleeing, but when Mirage turned around, there was a hard, dark gleam in those red optics. His field twitched and he pulled it tight against himself. Cliffjumper's smile was more of a grimace, and Mirage wondered if the minibot could act even to save his own life, even if he understood the urge.

Though that was a silly thought, surely, since that wasn't necessary _here_ , not for the minibot anyway. Mirage's worries for _himself_ was another thing entirely; despite the _complete disregard_ for what _he_ had thought, the atmosphere in the throne room hadn't felt oppressive when he'd entered.

He'd been in the presence of a high official or two who was less than pleasant, and _usually_ , at least, that leaked out among the people around them, a tension that could be picked up on, sometimes even if you weren't proficient at it.

"Yeah. Exactly." Cliffjumper was now staring off to the side, arms crossover over his chestplates, and Mirage was starting to doubt his conclusions. On the other hand, Cliffjumper, what he knew of the mech anyway, was pretty unreasonable. There could be any number of reasons for him not liking Bumblebee's older brother.

"Excellent. I hope you like what you've seen so far?" Bug Bite turned to Mirage, helm tilted and a small grin on his faceplate that Mirage couldn't place. Briefly, he froze in the sight of those optics, something he hadn't done since he was barely orns old and had been presented in front of Iacon's elite. 

It was unsettling. Because he was used to being able to read people; he was _good_ at it, in general and specifically, and yet, with this one, he came up blank.

"Of course. It's been very interesting," Mirage paused, trying to think of any protoform stories of minibots and the ways those ended - particularly the ones which featured the sort of thing he was facing, but all of them either ended with someone _else_ providing a rescue, or some weakness being exposed to be exploited. Nothing for it, then. 

He _really_ had no wish to stay any longer than he absolutely had to.

"But interesting or not, I--- ah?"

Staring down at the folded cloth he was suddenly presented with, Mirage shook his helm slowly and met Bug Bite's gaze, resetting his vocaliser and about to _decline_ , because taking gifts seemed like the _absolutely wrong thing_ to do in this situation.

"This is for you. It would greatly please me to find you accepting it as a first step of the courtship," Bug Bite said quietly, his voice thrumming in the air between them and his optics leaning towards a pinkish sheen. 

And it would be better to accept, wouldn't it? Better than offending Bug Bite here and now, especially with the gift he had just presented.

So Mirage took the offered cloth and folded it out to reveal a electrum-and-gold mesh cloak stitched with tiny energon crystals - treated to give off no radiation. A noise to the side had Mirage glancing around, surprised at the wide optics on Cliffjumper and Bumblebee, plus the slightly pinched looks on the guards.

But suddenly it didn't seem quite important.

"Thank you," Mirage said with a smile and a slight bow, that pinkish gleam from Bug Bite's optics seemingly boring deep inside and despite having decided that it would be better to wait, something still... didn't feel right. But a moment later he had Bug Bite at his side, quite ridiculously taking him by the elbow.

"Perhaps that's enough exploring for today?"

That wasn't a question, and while Mirage wasn't impressed by the way he was being steered, he also didn't want to protest, because he'd been told it was enough and it wouldn't be _diplomatic_ to protest. 

Right?

The last, very accidental, glance he got of Cliffjumper as he left with Bug Bite, presumably to go back to the room deepened the sense of something being off. But Bug Bite commented about how the electrum and gold would compliment his colours, and while he didn't feel like _conversing_ with this mech, when he looked down he still replied with a smile.

Better to be diplomatic about it, after all.


	3. The Waiting Game

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mirage is left to wait, wondering what happened the day before. Later, he finally gets a chance to relax a little, but there's no chance of leaving, yet. Cliffjumper and Bumblebee keep trying as well.

**Second day**

What in the name of Cybertron had _that_ been?

Staring at the fountain in the middle of the room, Mirage tried to reason out what had happened yesterday afternoon, and simply _couldn't_. 

He had just... folded.

Not that he wasn't very capable of being _careful_ , of being _diplomatic_ , but what had happened between Bug Bite appearing and him letting the lord of the Hall lead him back _here_ left a jagged twinge, like a broken cable spitting charge, going through his systems. 

The cloak hung with neat precision from a hook by the door, and while there was nothing wrong with it, the fact that things seemingly had started to gone wrong right when he got it made the unsettled charge cling to his circuits. Turning away from it, Mirage wandered around the room, pushing or tapping seeming possibilities, but the room apparently lacked proper closet storage.

So the cloak would have to stay where it was, despite his misgivings.

How had Bug Bite even been able to _do_ that, anyway? There hadn't been anything _noticeably_ different... Rubbing his chin, Mirage sat down in the recliner, as comfortable as the bed, and wondered if the tales were just that - fancy stories with no more basis in reality other than the fact that minibots actually _existed_ , or if something else was going on.

The single small consolation was that Bumblebee and Cliffjumper seemed to be trying to help. Even if Cliffjumper had been the one to _get him into_ this situation, he had also been the first to try and get him out. Mirage snorted at that thought and shook his helm, allowing the faint amusement to smooth over his frazzled nerves, because he needed that more than he needed the stasis-lock inducing fear.

Because even if Cliffjumper had been the first to try, he'd tried by yelling at him that he should leave. Not very conductive to conveying the seriousness of the situation, that. At least he wasn't _alone_ in this. Not that Mirage felt satisfied with just sitting around _waiting_ , so he stood up and explored the room again.

But the only thing he found out after three careful circuits was that the decorations were of no less quality than what he could find in his own home or an emirate's residence, there were no hidden doors - the passage into the surprisingly large washracks wasn't exactly _hidden_ , he just hadn't paid attention to it before, accessed as it was behind a lace-carved half-wall and a bend in the wall. There was, simply, no way in or out besides the door he couldn't open.

Gritting his teeth, Mirage stalked over to it and tried _again_ to manipulate the crystal, but with the same results as when he'd tried the first time; that was, nothing.

Defeated, he reluctantly wandered over to the shelf with the datapad and a neatly arranged chip-holder and looked them over. The datapad was used, but not beaten up. It wasn't of the _latest_ make, but if he wasn't wrong, it couldn't be more than half a vorn old. It could have been anyone's, depending on if the minibots made their own or acquired things like this from the cities.

Frowning as he started to sort through the chips in the holder (all of them unmarked), Mirage wondered what method Cliffjumper had alluded to that, _supposedly_ would allow them to go 'unnoticed' among the regular population. He couldn't think of anything that wasn't straight up fanciful protoform imaginations.

Perhaps he could ask, before he left...

The day, however, passed in solitude, which simply made Mirage twitchier the more time passed. The door remained closed, not even opening to allow a very unwanted visit from Bug Bite. Was he _really_ going to be left here, right after he'd realised - and Cliffjumper and Bumblebee had tried just the day before - that he wanted, no, _needed_ to leave?

When the door finally opened, Mirage had barely stood up, optics flickering, before he had a decanter with energon practically _shoved_ at him and Cliffjumper was clearly intending to leave again as soon as he'd come.

"Wait! _Please_."

Cliffjumper stopped at the door, hand hovering over the crystal and then turned around, optics wide and a little bright before he narrowed them again.

"Yeah?" There was a guardedness there Mirage wasn't sure _why_ it _was_ there, but Cliffjumper was tense, frowning - almost _scowling_ \- and still clearly ready to leave. He stared down at the minibot for a moment, torn between the frustration that had been clawing through him the whole day and the reality of a twitchy minibot who'd probably bolt... or yell at him and _then_ bolt, if he didn't consider his next words.

So he reset his optics and glanced down at the floor before he looked up and met those sharply blue and narrowed optics on the other side of the room.

"Can you sit down for a moment?"

Cliffjumper stared up at him and not even his wariness could conceal the surprise.

"Uh... sure?" He still stood by the door for another moment, but when Mirage said nothing and merely went and sat down on the divan at the seating group after getting a glass from the shelf on the wall behind and poured himself some energon, Cliffjumper followed and hopped up on one of the footstools.

Mirage still took a moment to finish filling his glass and wrap a hand around it before he took an off-cycle vent and looked up into Cliffjumper's confused faceplate.

"Did I _completely_ misunderstand what you were trying to accomplish by yelling at me the first night and what the aim was yesterday, or did you and Bumblebee decide it's too dangerous?" Mirage said and wasn't _quite_ able to keep the faintly biting tone out of his voice. He'd have thought that trying to leave as soon as possible - even with a thwarted attempt just yesterday - would've been better. But even if it _wasn't_ , some sort of _information_ would have been _appreciated_.

"I was just---" Cliffjumper yelled, then abruptly cut himself off and simply stared again. Mirage met his optics with slowly thinning patience.

"You still wanna leave?"

"What--- why wouldn't I--- Why would that even be _in question_?!" Now it was Mirage's turn to stare, uncomprehending. Of course, there had been that oddity of last evening, but why would that somehow affect him _permanently_?

"Uh, well," Cliffjumper muttered, shaking his helm as he looked around the room before glowering at the polished surface of the table, " _nevermind_. We couldn't have done anything today _either way_ , 'cause they wouldn't let me in. Only now and with the energon." Shrugging, Cliffjumper looked up again.

"We _might_ be able to do something tomorrow, but I wouldn't _bet on it_. Just, uhm... sit tight and don't listen to Bug Bite?" Cliffjumper's gaze flickered to the side and then back, a grimace barely held back.

"What _is_ it with the lord of the hall, anyway?" Mirage tilted his helm and didn't understand why Cliffjumper _twitched_ \- well, not _completely_.

It was obvious something was wrong, but...

"Just be careful, okay? And don't listen to him," Cliffjumper bit his lip and stared up at Mirage as if he was trying to tell him something by glaring alone, but unfortunately Mirage was hardly a _telepath_ , and while he sent a very obvious ping over the comm, it wasn't answered. Instead Cliffjumper slid off the footstool.

"I oughta go."

Mirage wasn't sure whether the pause at the door and Cliffjumper's glance back over his shoulder made him feel better about the whole thing or if it just made it _worse_. 

This was a mess. 

A _confusing_ , very unsettling mess.

***  
 **Third day**

Given _yesterday_ , Mirage wondered - feared, really, because the longer he stayed the smaller the chance of escaping seemed, even if it had only been a few days by now - if this day would be the same. He was almost _surprised_ when Bumblebee slipped inside the room as he was emptying the glass of the last of the energon Cliffjumper had brought him yesterday.

"Hi," Bumblebee said with a small smile that nonetheless was somewhat hesitant, and Mirage didn't _like it_ , just as little as he'd liked Cliffjumper's hesitance last night.

"Good morning. Is there any chance of... _leaving_ today?" Mirage said as he studied Bumblebee over the rim of the glass, and couldn't quite help his gaze wandering from the little mech to the door - but no one else came in.

"... the room here, or, um, the _hall_?" Bumblebee tilted his helm, optics a little brighter than they'd been just a moment before as he leaned forward slightly and Mirage sighed.

"Ideally, the latter of course."

Bumblebee's hesitation bled away into what Mirage was utterly sure was both relief and an honest smile as he straightened up, but he _did_ shake his helm instead of nodding it.

"Not today. We're going to have to try something later... but we could go for a walk, if you want to."

Mirage wanted to protest the delay but swallowed it along with the last of his energon and put the glass down, standing up.

"If you think it best to wait, we'll do so. But a chance to stretch my legs would be _appreciated_."

"You'll see why we have to wait," Bumblebee said with an apologetic smile and a shrug, then opened the door and let Mirage precede him out. And really, they'd barely taken a few steps away from the door before they'd gained an 'escort'; one in front, one behind. Glancing around the corridor as they walked, Mirage wished that his cloaking worked for more than a single person. If it _had_ worked in such a way, none of this would've been an issue.

A moment of inattention, and he could've brought Bumblebee - or Cliffjumper, if he'd been present - invisible with him and they could've helped him outside.

That, now, wasn't an option.

"I think I see why, yes," Mirage said dryly and shook his helm, pausing for a moment before continuing, "where's Cliffjumper, by the way? You two seem quite... close." He wasn't sure why he felt the need to add that last, but just asking about Cliffjumper's lack of presence had brought a slight, embarrassing twist to his EM field, and he had to cover for that.

Bumblebee glanced up at him with optics sparkling merrily for a moment before he glanced to the guards and then shrugged.

"He's... out on an errand for me. He'll be back soon." The smile was reassuring but also _sincere_ , and Mirage allowed the explanation to remain as it was with a nod. It still didn't _seem right_ , to be walking through the corridors lacking a small, red frame beside him with the yellow one present, but he wouldn't push.

Even with his situation being what it was, he was hardly involved in whatever official duties Bumblebee might have, nor, thus, what Cliffjumper might do to assist Bumblebee in those.

"So, where are we going?" Mirage asked instead, tilting his helm down to meet Bumblebee's gaze. The minibot chuckled and shrugged.

"Where would you like to go? I know you don't know what we actually _have_ around here, but if you think of something I can either get you there or have to disappoint you." There was an apologetic slant in Bumblebee's tone, and Mirage knew it was for what he _couldn't_ , at the moment, ask for. Which was the thing he _really_ wanted; to go outside.

"Well..." Mirage frowned as he thought, and then realised something that _would_ be interesting to see, even in this situation, "do you have a shrine?"

Bumblebee's optics flickered and then he nodded.

"Oh, yeah, we do! This way," Bumblebee said with a grin and nearly skipping away, probably relieved he _could_ do something that was obviously harmless but also something Mirage might want to see. It was cute, but Mirage found himself actually _missing_ Cliffjumper's grumbling, Primus forbid!

And as if his thoughts could somehow be heard, Bumblebee threw a grin over his shoulder up at Mirage.

"If CJ was here, he'd be complaining the _whooole way_. He doesn't got much for the _organised_ side of things."

"That doesn't _surprise me_ ," Mirage murmured with a shake of his helm. What he'd seen of the mini, Cliffjumper certainly didn't seem like the type to sit down during a ceremony and follow along in structured prayer or ask someone who'd be considered to 'know more' for advice or blessings.

The shrine of the Hall was found down a corridor set off from the main Hall, and there was a sense of _permanence_ to it that wasn't just _relaxing_ because he hadn't noticed the _impermanence_ of the other corridors until then, but made Mirage wonder if it wasn't one of the things that _couldn't_ move around at will.

... If that was really what was going on with the seemingly-moving corridors.

A mercury lake rippled slowly around large slabs of stone that created a path across it, and it was obvious there must have been channels of some sort cut into the rock to lead actual daylight inside, because the light in this little cave was sweetly, and naturally, golden.

It almost _hurt_ to see it, but in a good way. Not outside by any stretch of the imagination, but real sunlight was better than nothing. 

Stopping at the edge of the rounded platform of the shrine itself, Mirage smiled, both appreciative and professionally curious of the layout. Thirteen pillars lined the platform in sharp, simple lines, though each glowed with the corresponding Prime glyph from deep within the pillar itself. In the middle of the platform was a small energon pool, the liquid burbling around and over a sphere in the pool; not quite a fountain, but not perfectly still either.

His venting slowing and aware Bumblebee had stopped at the edge (the guards had actually stopped at the entrance to the cave the shrine was in, a small but appreciated token), letting him approach the energon pool on his own, Mirage settled down on his knees, optics flickering off.

Here, finally, was something absolutely familiar and which he had control over in the middle of this mess. The energon pool with its representation of Cybertron in the middle of it was a bit _different_ than what he was used to, but the _intent_ was clear and familiar. Manipulating his own EM field out into the glyph patterns, they hung invisibly around him, humming with the faint traces of evaporated energon wafting from the pool, and then dispersed.

Turning his optics back online, Mirage barely twitched at the sight of a minibot on the other side of the pool.

"Greetings," she said with a smile in her voice and a tilt of her helm, the proper two-point gesture accompanying the verbal one, "my field is open. You're Bug Bite's intended, aren't you."

It wasn't a question, but he nodded nonetheless and tilted his helm. The minibot chuckled.

"I'm Glyph. First Flame of this Hall." She paused then and looked him up and down, glancing beyond him, probably to Bumblebee, and then back at him, her yellow visor flickering briefly. "If you would like to do a Blessing, I could assist."

_Now_ Mirage stared, optics flickering briefly. Not so much that she happened to be a Flame of Cybertron - he'd suspected as much, but rather that she was offering to _assist_ instead of _leading_ the Blessing. This was, after all, _her_ home and shrine.

"I'd be honoured if you would," Mirage finally said, feeling more tension unwind from his shoulders and thighs, settling into the kneel more properly. This wouldn't _solve_ anything, but it was soothing, was familiar, and really important. Even if most couldn't see the effects.

Glyph knelt down at the edge of the pool where she stood, and her voice rang out half a moment after Mirage's, their EM fields linking a second later. Glyph must be old and well-versed in the Blessings, for them to have settled so quickly against each other.

A small smile pulling at his lips as their EM fields echoed the song, enhancing and emphasising it as glyphs were pulled out of their fields, Mirage slowly slid his hands through the air, feeling the slight charge slowly building over the pool as Glyph mirrored him. It pulsed and slowly swelled, and tiny droplets of energon would be pulled up into the gathering as well, Mirage knew, even if his optics were offline by now.

Security, patience, fortitude, protection.

It was a simple Blessing, but all the more important for that, both for a settlement as a whole and for _individuals_. And if Mirage was putting a bit more into it than he otherwise would have... well, who could blame him? He was rather sure the minibot across from him certainly _wasn't_.

The song slowly died and Mirage and Glyph just as slowly pulled their hands apart until the gathered energy and energon trembled with barely-hanging tension - and then they both flung their hands wide, and Mirage felt the humming pop both in his hands and his spark as the gathered charge was flung wide, energon droplets spattering around and on them.

Turning his optics online, he knew he was smiling, but since Glyph was as well, perhaps that was all right.

Standing up, he looked around the platform and then froze.

"Ah." Glyph's soft exclamation after a moment of stunned silence allowed him to make a slow turn, taking in the whole spread of droplets before they suddenly disappeared.

The _Guard_.

It was a simple, old glyph. It could be a warning (be on guard) as well as a promise (you are protected) as well as a threat (this is under protection).

The sudden hand on his elbow had Mirage _almost_ startling, but he reigned both himself and his EM field in before he glanced down at Glyph.

"Be strong. It will hopefully be all right," Glyph said softly, her visor dimmed into a pale-glowing frown that made the confused dread around his spark chamber flare back into life and spread outwards again.

"Well. Hopefully it will, yes," swallowing and feeling the valve at the back of his throat click open and closed, Mirage nodded and smiled tightly, "thank you." What else _could_ he say? He _was_ thankful after all, just - again - worried. 

What _was_ going on here? Beyond the obvious, of course.

"What was that?" Bumblebee asked as Mirage came up to the minibot and they crossed the lake again, and Mirage hesitated and then shook his helm.

"A true Blessing, as they sometimes come with unintended effects or advice."

Bumblebee looked startled and then nodded, leading him out of the cave and onwards. They wandered a bit aimlessly after that, but being able to stretch his legs was appreciated all on its own. Bee was quiet, and the tension lingering refused to disperse. Finally, however, the minibot looked up at Mirage.

"Want to play a game?" 

Staring down at the smiling minibot, Mirage tried to figure out if he was just _joking_ or being _serious_... cautiously, he nodded.

"What did you have in mind?"

"Tripple Takeover," Bumblebee said with a smile, easy and open, and apparently he _had_ been serious. For a brief moment Mirage felt only _frustration_ , but the guards in front and at their back, and the fact that he couldn't bring anyone else into his invisibility, made him swallow it.

"That might be a way to pass the time, if nothing else. Are you _good_ at it?" Mirage raised an upper optic ridge, and Bumblebee's sweet smile turned decidedly _challenging_.

"One of the best in the Hall."

***

Three hours later and having been locked in a stand-off with one part of the board under the control of each of them and the last third fought over for more than an hour, Mirage was quite delighted to know that Bumblebee had been correct. Not only that, but that Bumblebee's 'one of the best in the Hall' was a match for his own skill.

Considering the spread of glowing hard-light game pieces, Mirage frowned and flicked one to set it sliding across to another point.

"You _are_ very good, Bumblebee. Usually I'd have won by now," Mirage said idly, and Bumblebee chuckled.

"Me too. Most here have stopped playing against me... the only ones who still do it is Cliffjumper, and he gets frustrated real quick and loses faster than he _otherwise would_ , and the other---" Bumblebee cut himself off, frowning at the table between them and shook his helm, "the other one doesn't play much any more," he finally said after several moments of silence, and Mirage decided not to push.

Shrugging, Bumblebee finally looked up and aimed a not-quite full smile at Mirage before he made his move, making the taller mech smirk.

"That was---"

The door opened, both of them looking to it and Mirage wasn't sure who _Bumblebee_ hoped to see, but Mirage knew _he_ , at the least, hadn't hoped for _Bug Bite_.

Still, he stood up and bowed.

"My lord."

Better to be polite even if, again, his tank was nearly churning with worry.

"No need to stand on _ceremony_ now, Mirage," Bug Bite said with a slow smile and a slight narrowing of his optics which, had it been on someone else and the situation was different, would've looked friendly enough. On Bug Bite... Mirage couldn't tell, actually. Something just looked vaguely _off_ , but in the next moment it was merely a tilt of Bug Bite's helm without any strange tension to it.

"May I take your spot, Bumblebee?"

Bumblebee's bright blue optics flickered, then he swallowed, and nodded, hopping out of the chair.

"Uhm... of course. I should go see where Cliffjumper is, anyway. He got annoyed with visiting the shrine and left before we did," Bumblebee said with a smile that, miraculously, didn't seem at all fake, but Mirage _knew_ it was. Because Bumblebee had just lied out of his _aft_. Returning Bumblebee's farewell, Mirage sat down in his seat again, this time with the white minibot in front of him, who was smiling faintly.

"Interesting position I got left with... I know Bumblebee is a proficient player, it appears you are as well... The shrine?" Bug Bite muttered and glanced up at Mirage as he made his move.

"Ah, yes. Bumblebee mentioned it... I wished to pay my respects."

"I'm sure Darkmount was pleased. Your turn." Bug Bite even chuckled, and it sounded... like a laugh should, and this was _nothing_ like when Bug Bite had given him the cloak. Had he misunderstood or misremembered what had been going on? With a shake of his helm Mirage pushed that thought aside and made his move.

***  
 **The Royal Corridor, evening.**

Bumblebee was waiting for him when he finally managed to sneak back in, pulling him along fast enough he stumbled several times before he managed to catch up and regain his balance.

"Bee! Fraggin'--- _slow down_!" Pulling at his arm, but not as harshly as he _could have_ , it was still surprising when Bee didn't let go, just tightened his grip and quickened his steps, almost leaving them running through the corridors until the doors to Bee's room closed behind them.

"What's _with you_ \---"

"Bug Bite didn't catch you, did he?" Bee whirled around, optics wide and mouth set, and Cliffjumper stared then shook his helm.

"Nah. No one saw me, though the guards were pretty zealous today. I'd have come back earlier otherwise," Cliffjumper said with a shrug and Bee slumped a little, then crossed the room to toss himself onto his couch.

"I had to tell him you'd gotten bored when we went to the shrine."

"... Well, good, 'cause I _would have_!" huffing, Cliffjumper followed his friend and flopped down in the other seat, staring back at Bumblebee's narrowed optics.

"Well, I _know that_ , but what if Bug Bite had caught you before you knew that's what was supposed to have happened?" shaking his helm and continuing before Cliffjumper could do more than nod in sudden understanding, Bumblebee sighed, "how did it go?"

Now it was Cliffjumper's turn to slump a little and then angrily scrub at his faceplate, shaking his helm.

"I don't think there's _anything left_ on the whole rusted mountain, 'cause I've looked _several times_ by now, regardless of if Bug Bite has his optic on anyone or not..." 

"Which could mean it's true..." Bumblebee mumbled and stared at the floor. Cliffjumper responded by snorting sharply, his engine revving.

"Or he just doesn't _like the noise_ or something, who the frag _knows_. Not like that's the _only_ thing gone. Darkmount's so _quiet_ outside now..." Cliffjumper groaned and then they were both silent for several minutes before Cliffjumper shifted in his seat, glancing up at Bee, "is Mirage... uh..."

"He's _fine_ ," Bee looked up with a smirk, causing Cliffjumper to jerk his helm the other way, "kept him busy today, but there wasn't any chance at all to get him out. Maybe the guards will be gone later, since we didn't do anything today..."

"Which means we should probably not do anything tomorrow _either_ , but _that's_ a blasted dumb idea!" Cliffjumper threw his arms up and then jerkily crossed them over his chestplating, scowling.

"Not much else to _do_ , though. Wish we could've convinced him to leave the first night..." Bee sighed again, a wavering puff of static that was quiet enough it almost got swallowed by the room, and Cliffjumper grunted.

"I should go back to mine," he muttered and jumped off the chair, meeting Bee's optics briefly and squeezed his wrist when Bumblebee reached his arm out and caught his wrist as well. Letting go, Cliffjumper left and peered down the corridors. The guards at the end of the royal corridor eyed him, but let him pass with a nod or a smile.

They were _not_ , after all, the _real_ enemy, even if it was sometimes hard to remember that---

Cliffjumper froze.

The well-lit corridor was empty, but the shadows in the crannies seemed darker than they should be and... there it was again. 

A faint, scratching click-clack of metal catching on metal and rock, but from no direction Cliffjumper could pinpoint. Glowering up and down the corridor and then decisively stomping to the nearest door, opening it, and taking the corridor that shifted into place, Cliffjumper walked to his own room.

The noise, and the shadows, followed along, but disappeared a few steps away from his door.


	4. The Knowledge You Might Need

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> There’s a proper escape attempt made and foiled, which leads to a confusing revelation and, as the two minibots walk around with Mirage, a discussion of what other fairy tale creatures exist on and in Cybertron.

**Fifth day**

"So, no one's going to come and escort me back to the room?" Mirage eyed the two minibots on each side of him, optic ridge arched and helm cocked. Both of them glanced up to him and then away, Cliffjumper scowling and crossing his arms over his chestplating, Bumblebee releasing a sigh and looking more tired than anything else.

"Because we promised not to try anything today," Bumblebee said, causing Cliffjumper's expression to darken even more, Mirage saw out of the corner of his vision. And while that was a _depressing_ statement and promise...

"It's all right. I don't want you to get hurt on _my_ behalf. Nothing _today_ , then." Mirage shook his helm and Bumblebee's smile was relieved while Cliffjumper revved his engine.

"How the frag can ya _say that_ \---"

"Cliffjumper." Mirage frowned down at the mini, who grimaced up at him and then jerked his helm to glare at the floor.

It wasn't that he _wanted_ to wait, but considering the abysmal _failure_ of trying to sneak out last night, Mirage felt patience would be best. He was honestly surprised the minibots were allowed to not just show him around (and without obvious guards, this time), but even be in his general _vicinity_.

Frowning faintly as they wandered the large cave that was the central meeting place of this Hall, Mirage considered yesterday. 

Most of it had been spent in his room, with either minibot ducking out every now and then and then returning after a few moments, or a few breems later, shaking his head and resettling with the other two. It wasn't until after the evening and its ration of energon that the two minis had suddenly decided to make an attempt, citing a relative certainty that Bug Bite wasn't exactly present in the Hall at the moment, so they should at least _try_.

It'd even seemed to be going well, walking through empty corridors that led more down and back on themselves than they seemed to lead _out_ , to Mirage, but they had been in the very same corridor Cliffjumper had let him in into the mountain when the guards seemingly came out of the walls. Mirage was pretty sure there'd been brief flashes of doors opening and shutting behind the guards, but it'd gone too fast to get a good impression of it.

Either way they suddenly had ten guards scattered around them and a blue mech sharing Cliffjumper's look if with larger horns on his helm and some slight detail differences in front of them, looking as angry as anything he'd seen Cliffjumper look.

"What do you think you're _doing_?!" the blue mech hissed, but he was staring at Cliffjumper, not at Bumblebee or Mirage as he said it, surprisingly enough. Cliffjumper snarled and stomped up to the mech, slapping the shaft of the energo-pike away so he could duck past it and get into the mech's faceplate. The other was somewhat taller, and at some other point that might have been amusing, even if Mirage wasn't sure why that was.

"Carrera, what the _frag_! You said you wouldn't---"

"Wouldn't _what_ , Cliffjumper?" Carrera bellowed, and briefly Cliffjumper looked utterly, completely dumbstruck, optics going wide and bright before they narrowed sharply, "wouldn't let you _condemn yourself_? What the blast do _you_ think you're doing? For once I think I can relax and then _this_ happens and you're a rusted-over, thoughtless _glitch_!"

Cliffjumper's expression had closed off at the first few roared words, and then it'd just darkened with each successive one being flung into his faceplate.

" _I'm_ a--- I'm not gonna let someone _innocent_ get fragging dragged into this anymore!" Cliffjumper yelled, balancing up on the front of his feet to be optic to optic to the powder-blue and black mech, who snarled right back.

"And the Hall isn't innocent, is that what you're saying?"

Cliffjumper sputtered and then yelled as he was suddenly pushed, tipping backwards before Carrera grabbed an arm and in one move both pulled him around and swung him closer, the flailing red and black mini falling back against Carrera's side with a clatter.

"If you don't fragging _behave_ I'm gonna knock you out and _carry you_ , understood?" Carrera snapped, glowering at Cliffjumper, who scowled... but didn't really struggle. Mirage wondered what the relation here was... siblings? Bonded really didn't seem to fit.

"Are either of _you_ gonna give me trouble?" Carrera glared from Bumblebee up to Mirage, who, after letting out a long vent of hot waste air, shook his helm, holding his palm up in supplication.

"I'm not quite in the position to do so, I believe," Mirage said quietly and gave a shallow bow while Bumblebee shook his helm as well.

"No, Captain."

And that, really, had been that. Though Carrera hadn't let go of Cliffjumper's arm as they'd been marched back to Mirage's room, and the last he'd seen was Carrera marching off as the door closed, still pulling Cliffjumper along behind him.

Which, well. Was what made it all the more surprising they were out here - and that Cliffjumper was with them. Besides that, there was some worrying things with what had been yelled yesterday, but Mirage knew he wouldn't get a straight answer. So far, after all, none of his inquiries regarding the situation in general and Bug Bite in particular _had_.

Pushing that thought aside with a sigh, Mirage looked down at his companions. It wasn't easy to feel like this would end well, but at least they were both _trying_... and Cliffjumper's zeal, in particular, even if it was just guilt, was reassuring.

"So what _are_ we doing today, then?"

Bumblebee and Cliffjumper shared a look, then Bumblebee shrugged.

"Just walking. Maybe showing you a few more things, but mainly just moving. Might help you feel less cooped up?" Bumblebee said with a smile, and while that was _thoughtful_ , really, Mirage sighed.

"While I appreciate the thought, truly, I'm not sure it's going to help at the moment."

"Well, we _can't_ do anything right now," Cliffjumper scowled, throwing his hands up, "I mean, maybe Bee could, but it wouldn't be _advisable_ at the moment, and if _I_ do anything right now, Carrera's promised to lock me up." Given the way Cliffjumper huffed as if this was an outrageous and stupid inconvenience rather than something like a threat with weight, Mirage guessed he _didn't_ mean 'lock me up officially' but rather 'lock me up in my room'.

Of course, the result would be more or less the same thing, though.

"CJ, maybe you should just... let me tr---"

"What? Like _slag_ , you blasted idiot!" Cliffjumper whirled on Bumblebee, even with Mirage between them, and thrust a finger out, optics flashing bright and then darkening, "I won't let ya do this on your _own_ , and _I_ brought him in so you can just mute it!"

In the interest of not letting the argument go further, because for once Bumblebee looked like he would argue right back, Mirage decided to ask something that he'd hopefully get an answer to.

"So, merely a curiosity, but... who is Carrera? Your brother?" Mirage asked, helm tilted, and couldn't _quite_ stop the affronted huff from escaping when both Bumblebee and Cliffjumper _burst out laughing_. "What? How is that _amusing_?"

Bumblebee sobered up first, and while Cliffjumper was still snickering, he shook his helm.

"He ain't my _brother_. He's my creator. Well, one of 'em, anyway," Cliffjumper said with another grin, and Mirage just _stared_. He might even have stumbled to a stop for a moment. That was...

Myth.

Impossible wishes from over-romantic fools.

 _Legends_.

"That's not _possible_!" He might even, embarrassedly enough, have stomped his foot. Bumblebee and Cliffjumper's optics both flickered as they stared up at him, then shared a glance.

"Come on, let's keep moving and we'll... try to explain?" Bumblebee sounded confused, though, but Mirage couldn't figure out why. Shouldn't _he_ be the one confused here?

"How's that _impossible_ , anyway?" Cliffjumper said with a snort as Bumblebee brushed the wall and a door appeared, letting them into a softly curving corridor with stones set into the metal floor where each of their steps on the stones let out a pure, ringing note. It almost distracted Mirage from his confusion.

"Not like we can come from the Matrix, right?" Cliffjumper continued, helm cocked and an expression somewhere between amused and challenging. Mirage sputtered.

"But that's... that's where _all of us_ come from---!"

Cliffjumper snorted, but reached out - and then drew back before he'd so much as brushed his fingers against Mirage's arm, looking away. Mirage bit his lip and tried not to smile. _Or_ admit to the little warming in his circuits. Bumblebee sighed, gave Cliffjumper a stare and then smiled up at Mirage.

"We've got some tricks to help us stay hidden, but really, you'd _notice_ if we or anything else beside the sort of mechs you're used to came out of the Matrix, right?"

Well, that _did_ make sense, Mirage had to admit with a frown, but that reminded him...

"What _are_ these abilities you keep referring to? And does that include manipulating the mountain or is that based on some technology I can't access?" Mirage said, a huff underlying his words at the mention of the thoroughly annoying doors and corridors. But mostly the locked doors.

Bumblebee and Cliffjumper exchanged a glance.

"The doors and corridors are all 'cause we're tuned to the mountain, interactin' with it, like. Nothing you could do... well, maybe if you'd lived here a real long time or something," Cliffjumper said with a shrug, and while that was annoying it did make Mirage feel a little better. At least he wasn't missing (and being kept from) some hidden technology that needed to be navigated around to get around in this place.

"As for the rest..." Bumblebee and Cliffjumper exchanged looks again, "a sort of disguise thing that's part tech, part pure ability and relies on all of you seeing only what you expect to see," Bumblebee said with a shrug, cocking his helm.

"And a tiny bit of an ability to ask metal and rock to move for us. Only works if planet _wants_ to, though," Cliffjumper added, and Mirage rubbed his faceplate.

"I'm... well. That's impressive." As he tried to wrap his mind around these things which relied on other factors rather than power chip rectifiers and their interaction with an individual's spark energy, the music they were creating as they walked echoed around them, and another thought came to mind.

"If I may ask..."

The minibots looked up to him, optics bright and with nearly identical questioning looks, despite their differences in personality. Mirage found himself chuckling.

"So _you_ are real, and your various abilities too... what _else_ is?"

" _What_ what else?" Cliffjumper asked, and Mirage couldn't tell if he was being deliberately obtuse, teasing or simply didn't get what Mirage meant, maybe because of their different lived realities and expectations. Nonetheless, he sighed.

"Like... ah, the Blessed of Primus?"

Cliffjumper's immediately response was loud, ugly swearing, and Mirage stared, optics flickering, barely noticing when they passed through an arch and came out in a hall that looked to be a garden, delicate gold lace-vines growing along the paths, with multicoloured crystals in clusters and twitching bunches of carefully pruned cable-vine strung up on trellises.

Bumblebee was laughing and patted Cliffjumper on a shoulder before he managed to pull himself together, waving a hand in the air.

"Don't mind _him_ , CJ's just had a bad run-in with one of the Blessed a while ago---"

"Rusting, sludge-dripping, stuck-up, glitching..." the cursing fell lower in volume and Mirage was finally drawn into a smile himself, though he hid it behind a hand. Especially since Cliffjumper aimed a glower first at Bumblebee and then up at him, blushing when their optics met.

"But yeah, they _exist_. Live up on one of the moons and whatnot - CJ, _shut up_ , they're not that arrogant - and if you think we've got a lot of abilities, you should see one of _them_ ," Bumblebee said with a shake of his helm, amusement dancing in his optics and voice both.

"... are they---"

"What, attracted to those who haven't engaged in sparkmerging yet? _Yeah_." Cliffjumper's huff was nearly a snarl, and he was tense - not in a way that Mirage thought meant he was upset, more like... offended. He had to bite his lip not to smile again. It would be _rude_. 

Meeting Bumblebee's optics with a twitch of his lips, they walked in silence for a few moments, and Mirage took the chance to actually enjoy the garden they were walking through.

They walked across a bridge spanning a mercury pool, slow, thick dribbles of mercury feeding into the lake from cracks in the wall. Around the edge of the little lake charge-blooms grew, glowing only dully and lacking the characteristic sparks - not so strange, considering there would be no electricity reaching them down here from lightning during storms.

"What about---" Mirage began, but was cut off by Bumblebee who'd been casting glances behind them, lips pursed.

"Sorry. I'll be back later. Enjoy the walk!" smiling, Bumblebee gave a wave and darted away, Cliffjumper, Mirage saw, from the edge of his vision, twitched and then scowled before his expression smoothed out and he glanced up at Mirage and then looked away.

"You were sayin'?" 

He shouldn't find this prickly minibot so very adorable, _really_. He did though. Not that... it really mattered, regardless of if he got out of here.

***  
It was so slagging _dumb_. He wasn't even sure why he got all... stupid... over Mirage, because half the time he seemed so uptight and _snippy_ , and the other half... the other half there were those small smiles, glittering optics and opinions that weren't half-bad.

"Ah, well, yes. So the Blessed exist," Mirage cleared his vocaliser and briefly rested his hand against his mouth, only partly obscuring the twitch of his lips, "what about... dragons?"

Cliffjumper wasn't sure if Mirage was just throwing out suggestions now but not expecting an affirmative response or not, but, with a roll of his optics, he nodded.

"Yeah. Sure."

"... are you yanking my wires, Cliffjumper?" Mirage's optics were narrowed into slits of gold, and Cliffjumper sniggered.

"Nope, dragons really _do_ exist, all right? Mean slaggers," Cliffjumper said with a grimace, shaking his helm, "they hoard energon; find deposits and sit on 'em, slowly absorbing them. If they've got a hoard, they're practically harmless unless ya get too close, it's the ones who're wandering around that're _really_ mean."

Mirage was still frowning down at him as if he couldn't tell if he was joking or not, but then he sighed, the static loud.

"All right, so why would a... a, hoarding dragon be harmless unless you get close?"

"'Cause they ain't hungry, of course! But if you get too close, they'll be able to sniff out that you've got energon in ya, and then they'll snag you up and keep you..." trailing off, Cliffjumper couldn't even manage the sort of threatening motion one'd make telling made up horror stories as protoforms, just grimaced, "and if you can't get away, they'll absorb your energon like they do with the hoard you're sitting on. You'll starve into offlining."

Shrugging, Cliffjumper scowled at the ground, not letting Mirage interrupt him.

"Some say they can even keep your spark, 'cause it's got tiny amounts of energon in it or somethin' and that'll slowly be absorbed as well, but I dunno about that. But a dragon got a few of ours a long time ago." He hadn't intended the drop in his tone, or to let his shoulders tense, but when Mirage put a hand on his shoulder, Cliffjumper supposed he'd not managed to not reveal someone important had gotten lost there.

Mirage wasn't stupid enough to _say_ anything about it, which Cliffjumper was thankful for, only rubbed his thumb over red metal.

"So, um, what else... the fair ones?"

Now Cliffjumper _knew_ he was just tossing out what first came to mind, but he didn't care.

" _Those_ don't exist. Think they're just imaginary offshoots of the Blessed or something. Try something else," he said and grinned up at Mirage, who chuckled. And still hadn't removed his hand.

"All right... what about sparkeaters?"

He wouldn't admit it, but he did freeze for half a step before he got himself moving again, managing not to force Mirage's hand to slide off his shoulder. It was stupid and selfish but he really sort of... wanted to keep it there.

"Um, yeah. They exist," frowning, Cliffjumper glanced around, but the garden was empty, "we think Bee and Bug Bite's creators were lost to one, so it's a bit of a... uh, sensitive topic."

Mirage nodded, optics and expression somber.

"But yeah, they do... And they're probably exactly like what you've heard. Eat sparks and slag, look like twisted shells and can have saw blades and tentacles and whatnot coming outta them. And they can absorb the abilities of the sparks they eat."

" _What_? I've never heard of that!" Mirage's face twisted into surprisingly open and honest disgust, and Cliffjumper was drawn into a small grin.

"Yeah, I know. That's why the older they are the more slaggin' terrifyin' they get. I mean, dragons are dragons, they just... eat, wander around, eat, and while the Blessed are annoyin' they ain't a danger to anyone's life. _Sparkeaters_ though..." biting his lip, Cliffjumper shrugged.

By now they'd left the garden behind and were walking through a quiet area where other minibots were walking through, doors lining the corridor at even intervals, some of them open. Mirage realised after a moment that it was a residential area, and tried not to glance into any of the open doors. But the normalcy of the corridor with the floating echo of conversations and yells and laughter of a few protoforms dispelled the creeping cold that'd been settling around them.

"I see... Well, ah. What about demons and mutants?" 

Surely _those_ couldn't exist, too? 

Cliffjumper glanced up at Mirage and saw the taller mech was practically bracing for another unpleasant answer, but at least this time he could shake his head.

"No... or, uh. We don't know," he shrugged, narrowing his optics at Mirage's surprised look, and shook off the hand on his shoulder finally. He still missed the weight of it... "Look, we don't know _everything_ , okay? Just 'cause we live out here and can go down underground fairly deep... the planet's large!"

"Calm _down_ , Cliffjumper. It's just surprising since you're been telling me most of these things I've assumed are tales _aren't_!" Mirage huffed and met Cliffjumper's scowl with a frown of his own, and after a moment Cliffjumper glanced away, embarrassed he'd been so defensive. The hand brushing his arm had him look up again.

"Thank you for the education, though." Mirage smiled, and Cliffjumper ducked his helm, barely managing to not turn himself into a dumb glitch due to that bright expression, and reset his vocaliser.

"So uh... what about _you_?"

"What?" Mirage cocked his helm, looking down at him with confusion threading through his EM field, which wasn't surprising. The question wasn't very clear and had come out of the blue.

"You don't have creators, but... uh, do you like, have anyone who mentors your protoforms or what?"

"Oh, of _course_ we do," Mirage said with a laugh, shaking his helm, "not all stay with them for long, but noble and priest-lineages usually do so. My protohatchers are waiting..." Mirage trailed off, frowning, and Cliffjumper cursed quietly. That was _not_ what he'd intended---

"There you are."

The voice froze Cliffjumper to the spot, and he had to take a moment to get his EM field under control before he could turn around, knowing exactly what they'd be faced with.

Bug Bite - and Carrera.

Gritting his teeth and trying to ignore his creator, Cliffjumper stared at Bug Bite and felt every single component within his frame sink. There was a flute of energon in one of Bug Bite's hands, and something small and shiny in the other.

Where the slag was Bumblebee?!


End file.
